


House of Mirrors

by BuiltUpWithCatsAndTeaToMatch



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Human, Blood and Gore, Carnival, Death, Deception, Dogs, Gen, Ghost Dogs, Horror, Kidnapping, Kinda, Library, Murder, Psychological Horror, Puppies, Spiders, Transformation, Traps, Wandering Off, based on Us (2019), fun house, good boi is thomas, haunt your dreams thing, house of mirrors, maze, spider hybrid thing, the first five chapters are backstory to how the kiddos got snatched, the ol’ paper boat trick remastered, there is a good boi who tries to protecc best he can
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:09:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21999523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuiltUpWithCatsAndTeaToMatch/pseuds/BuiltUpWithCatsAndTeaToMatch
Summary: At the town of Sanders, there’s an annual carnival every five years. It’s normal, yet whenever Virgil went, he couldn’t shake the feel of wrongness in his gut. As he was diagnosed with anxiety later on in life, they simply started to pass it off as that.But, as he digs deeper, he finds cases of five kids going missing at the friendly carnival, and, armed with friends to investigate, finds himself flung into the world of Mommy, a horrid creature kidnapping kid and turning them into super-powered playthings.Still, they can be saved. All he needs is to return them to who they are,  then he can unite them to banish and kill Mommy once and for all, forever.If they survive long enough to do it, that is.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Dr. Emile Picani, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Sleep | Remy Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Dr. Emile Picani & Sleep | Remy Sanders
Kudos: 21





	1. Fun, Fun, Fun!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Innocent, babey Patton finds himself hopelessly lost in a chase with a golden pupper he found at the carnival

The first one to go in is a little kid named Patton.

He wanders off from his parents accidentally, giggling as he dances with his rainbow lollipop over the sand. He cranes it head up at all the lights shining above, sparkling blue eyes wide as he stares in wonder at all the rides, stalls, and games all around him.

He walks past concerned gazes and worried murmurs, humming a theme to his favourite cartoon as he pops the oversized, over-sugary lollipop in and out of his mouth. 

He’s just about to start turning back to go show his parents a cool new ride he desperately wants to try when a little bark interrupts him.

Spinning around, the little six year old turns to stare at a little puppy wagging its tail, barking as the light from the stalls bounces off its golden fur.

“Puppy! Puppy!” He cries, full of joy as he runs towards it, his mission forgotten.

Barking excitedly, the dog turns and darts too, occasionally glancing behind to make sure the kid is still in on their game of chase.

Boy, is he in on it.

He doesn’t stop as the sounds of the carnival fade slowly into the distance, and how everything gets darker as he runs out onto the open beach, his only focus the adorable puppy in front of him. His colourful lollipop, the rainbow of dye melted together from his saliva, drying as he runs with it clamped in a white-knuckled hand.

He doesn’t notice the fun house tent steadily growing in the distance until he’s halted in front of it, caught in its headlights and impossible size.

He drops his lollipop, allowing it to sink into the sand below, ruining it.

He stares up at the sign ahead. HOUSE OF FUN. Not very creative, but the word fun draws him in like a drawstring, though he still stands frozen at the entrance before him.

He can’t help but shake the feeling that there is something very wrong, very alive about this out-of-the-blue funhouse.

It does look very fun, though. Lots of lights, happy music, slides, toys, jungle gyms, and a dog.

A bark breaks him from his thoughts as said young dog diverts his attention to it, who is currently wagging their small tail as they stand, half-way in the spinning door of the funhouse.

He chases after it, suspicions forgotten as he runs, giggling.

He runs after it all the way through the house, through spinning platforms and down slides and up jungle gyms. Through funhouse mirrors and winding staircases, he continues to chase the little bugger.

Until suddenly he’s trapped.

A maze of mirrors stretches all around him, winding. For a long time, he tries to follow it.

Then he’s lost, and he shakes into a corner as he realizes just how alone and scared he really is.

It’s cold in the funhouse, and the music that was once so comforting now seems taunting. The absence of footsteps and voices makes his heart beat fast. 

He can hear the faint, faraway barks of the dog, but he can’t tell where it is. He can only hear the ever growing fear in its voice, just like him.

He whimpers, backing into a corner as his eyes dart across the thousands of mirrors facing back at him. He can see the tears well in his own huge eyes.

Then, suddenly the bark falls into a yelp, and there’s a squelch and crunch of bones and muscle. Patton flinches, tears falling freely down his cheeks as he hears the loud silence that follows.

Then there’s footsteps, but they’re not human. There’s six pairs, and they sound like high heels against tile. Click, clack, click, clack.

He listens to it, shaking like a leaf in a tornado as he cries, though he’s silent as he can be as they draw closer, closer, closer, closer...

Silence.

There’s a beat of hope.

Then the mauled body of his puppy friend smashes against the floor in front of him, and he screams. It’s eyes are wide with perpetual, dead fear. It’s stomach is gaping open, its once beautiful golden pelt matter with its own scarlet blood.

His tears flow faster and he sobs, reluctantly craning his head upwards yo stare at what dropped it.

His scream is higher than the last as he focuses on a grand spider-like creature above him. Her six pairs of legs stick to the low roof, a web of silk stringing out over the whole roof. She’s like some kind of spider centaur, with a huge, hairy black body and eight blinking crimson eyes, and a fanged grin. Her face is splattered with the blood of his friend, her dark hair draping over her shoulders, impossibly long. She licks her lips with a long, forked tongue, and climbs down opposite to him. 

Click, clack, click, clack.

Then she’s there, crouched right across from him, watching him with malicious intent as he cries.

Her head tilts, and he watches as it turns a whole 360° until she’s staring back at him normally, still grinning like a little kid who’d just found out the secret to the Tooth Fairy for the first time.

“Very moral, aren’t you? Not a fan of spiders either, huh?” She speaks, voice smooth as silk yet scratchy like sandpaper.

He shakes his head vigorously, shutting his eyes tight. He wants to tell her that anyone would cry over a puppy dropped dead at their feet and it’s bloodied murderer crawling towards them on six legs, but his lips seem locked, just as tight as his eyelids.

She grins wider, though softens a little.

“I won’t hurt you, don’t worry. You’re a useful little bugger, aren’t ‘cha?” She says it like she’s some kind of adult trying to strike up a conversation while his parents drone on to another adult in the background, trying to keep him busy with another woman.

He gulps, eyes hard on the floor, tears still flowing.

He hears her tsk, and she walks closer, and a sob breaks from him as she reaches out with a sharp-tipped spider leg, using it to raise his head up to meet her.

His shaky pale blue eyes meet her steady crimson eight, and he watches as her face morphs into something oddly... soft in a way, while also being immensely sadistic.

“You know, all my latest children just managed to escape a few years ago. I’ve been so lonely without them, you know? You, though, have been the first one to enter my house in so long. And just look at you! So young and innocent. What kind of bad mother let’s a cutie like this wander off from her tight grasp?” She tsks softly, shaking her head as if it were some kind of silly mundane thing. “Oh, well, at least that little bugger my old son left behind was a little useful in the end. He was an animal master, did you know that? He gave me quite a gift, after he shot me to be half-spider. Brilliant one, he was. Too brilliant. But, to cut to the chase. You seem perfect as my new son. So alive, so young, so innocent, so pure. Oh, you are just perfect! I see by the house that you are quite the fun-loving cutie, aren’t ‘cha? Well, I can very well work with that!” She grins, giggling.

“Now, come on, Morality” the word falls off her tongue with ease, yet it strikes him an odd way, Snead he shivers down his spine. “Let’s see what we can do for a gem like you.”


	2. Can’t Logic Your Way Out Of This One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even the smartest of the bunch can take a spin in the fun house once and a while... or forever.

The next to fall into the pit was Logan.

Top of his class, despite being only six, his brain was almost galactic. His stoic demeanour and emotionless reputation did not gain him any popularity, but he didn’t care. His friends were the stars and his books. Facts and reality, although the stars up above always gave him a kind of breather of sorts.

So, during all the hubbub of the carnival he didn’t want to attend, it was no wonder that he yearned for the stars. For the silence of their presence, and to exit the carnival, back to his dark and comfy room where he could go and read until he fell asleep.

He’d tried to bug his parents about it before, but they brushed him off, and so, when he saw the chance, he went.

Walking through the rough crowds, he remained mostly unseen as he pushed his way through, face hard as he fought to get out into the open beach, out to the stars.

He walks for what feels like forever, despising the loudness and the abundance of people and crying children with their loud dogs. He pushes through, a headache blooming just as he manages to stumble out through the crowd and onto the beach.

But, he’s out, and he breathes as he does, inhaling the sweet night air as it comes to him, raising his head to the stars and he stands in the dark, empty beach, cold sand resting beneath his feet. He can hear the waves washing against the shore along the distant shore.

For a while, he simply stands, taking in the beauty of the silence, when something interrupts him.

A song, gentle and melodic. Piano, though there’s a bit of violin and flute too.

It relaxes him, releasing the tension in his shoulders as he turns to look at where at the music is coming from.

A tent, though it’s huge. It’s far away from the others, but he doesn’t mind. It’s strung around with dim blue lights, and looks to be in themes of night.

Walking towards it, he stares up at its calming entrance, blinking at the name. HOUSE OF BOOKS. 

What a strange word for a library. At least, that’s what he thinks it is.

Still, he steps inside, finding himself in a maze of bookshelves and cozy couches. Amazed, he wanders through the aisles of books, running his fingers along the dusty, yet beautiful leather spines as he reads the names. They’re mostly astronomy, though of course there’s some fiction and non-fiction scattered about, along with some historical and some textbooks.

He goes until he’s at the last aisle, content to just live here for the rest of his days. He’s holding an entire cart full of books, pushing along the wheeled thing he’d found unused next to one of the aisles about an hour back. He moves along, reading the book titles and scanning their summaries, when a book falls.

Blinking, he jolts up to look, noticing a pastel book fallen on the floor below off of its shelf. Brow furrowing, he glances around for someone who could’ve knocked it off, but even as he cranes to listen, there is no one.

Playing it off as just anxiety, he still can’t shake the shivers that climb up his spine as he goes towards the book to pick it up.

Still, he does, but as he leans down to grasp the rainbow, pastel book that looks to be some kind of heroic fantasy thing, a sharp yelp from behind stops him short, and he spins around just as a kid a bit older than him leaps down from the bookshelf across from him, grinning ear-to-ear.

“Hiya, hiya, hiya!” The mystery boy practically chirps, bouncing in a tuck-and-roll like cartoon clouds. His eyes are impossibly wide, pale blue. He smiles with sadistic joy, and he wears a clown-like outfit, with a frilly, rainbow dress and bouncy shoes like a trampoline.

Logan stumbles back, wide-eyed. “Wh-“

The boy bounces up to his feet, straightening himself as he grins, head tilting to the side as he gives an enthusiastic, albeit a little robotic wave. “I’m Morality, and we’re going to have so much fun!”

“F-fun?” The word falls off his tongue with almost a twitch as he feels his stomach sink. He came here to get away from what people like this ‘Morality’ perceives fun to be.

“Yes, yes! I haven’t seen another kid in so long! Five years! Ain’t that a long time!” He giggles madly, seemingly unbothered to have spent five years alone.

“Five... years?” Logan speaks slow, blinking with narrowed eyes.

“Yes, yes! Come to think of it, I was almost your age when I first came here with my little puppy buddy!” He breaks into another fit of giggles, dancing around in a circle.

As he dances, Logan contemplates. His dog friend must’ve been the one that helped when before Morality could run up and pounce. Maybe that dog friend just saved him from certain death.

Speaking of Morality, the older boy bounces in a circle for a moment before he turns to face Logan again, leaning down to his level. His eyes are shut tight in grin, and he blows a raspberry before breaking into so more quieter giggles.

“Oh, we’re going to have so much fun together!” He cries excitedly, jumping up to his full height as he claps his gloved hands. “So much fun, fun, fun!” 

“Yes...” comes a newer, slower voice, and Logan spins around to watch as a spider-centaur thing steadily slips down from the ceiling on a thick strand of silk. The more humanoid part of it is a woman with impossibly long dark hair, a wicked grin and eight red eyes. They all move in different directions and blink at different times, and that adds to just how much fear shoots up Logan’s spine with all of them focus intently on him.

“Hiya Mommy! Look at what I reeled in!” He grins, giggling as he claps his gloved hands onto Logan’s shoulders, thrusting him forth as he bounces on his heels.

The creature, ‘Mommy’, clicks her tongue softly as she surveys them boy, smiling. “Look what the CGs dragged in” she almost sings absent-mindedly.

Morality grinned it’s closed eyes as he let out a slightly anxious chuckle.

It strikes Logan as odd that the clown creature can feel, but he doesn’t have time to ponder it before the spider creature is directly in front of him, and looks to be about ten feet tall.

She fixates her many eyes down on him and grins. “You summoned them house of books, I see. Intelligent one, you are. You’re just what I need” she reaches up, slipping her pointy spider leg around his much tinier wrist. “What kind of mother leaves a genius like this behind?” She tsks softly. “Don’t worry, I’ll be better.”

He wants to tell her that she doesn’t need to do that, that he can just go run along and they’ll be fine, but he can tell they’re not going to let him go. Neither look it either of their eyes says anything about letting him go.

“I‘ll name you... Logic. Yes. Logic, for your logical thinking, my dear” she smiles, and he wants to tell her that he has a name, but then suddenly there’s a pointed foot to his head, and everything goes black.


End file.
